Training Advice Needed

[nancyred]

I have a 7 month old male boxer. He is a good dog at home, he is out of the crate, gated off in the kitchen during the day and he does really well.

Our problem is that he PULLS when he walks. He is okay with no distractions, but he pulls so much when children (he loves them or other dogs are around that I have stopped walking him to school with my daughter in the morning. If my 10 year old takes him out, he walks her.

He is great about jumping with members of the family, but he JUMPS when company comes.

He attended puppy kindergarden (positive training) and training went well, but the class was a 40 minute drive each way.

Last night, we had a highly recommended trainer come to our house for a session. She pinched Boomer's paws when he jumped on her, put a prong collar on him and told us to pull on it to correct any infractions either in the house or when walking. She also suggested tobasco sauce if he nipped!

Any suggestions on how to find a trainer you can trust? Does positive reinforcement work if you keep at it? I want a well-behaved dog, but I do not want him afraid of us and it feels awful to do anything to hurt him - he is the sweetest dog.

 

[gmacleod]

Although time consuming, a good technique for pulling is to walk slowly, and whenever the dog pulls to come to a stop and/or make him come back round behind you and retrace the ground he covered while pulling. It takes a while (and getting anywhere takes forever!) but it does teach the dog that the best (fastest) way to get anywhere is at your pace. It also removes the dog's ability to pull you along - 'cause as soon as he starts to, he has to stop and turn around.

Once he gets the basic idea, I find that a short gentle tug on the lead works well too - its something the dog can't replicate (ie pull against) and just gives a warning that he's starting to go too fast and will be made to stop if he doesn't slow down.

 

[SammynDqtz]

I agree with Gmacleod. That really helped with my mixed breed.

 

[Tink]

this method.... (stop walking each time he pulls) worked for me! Now I just have to work on the reverse problem, Luke likes to sit, every few steps and watch the world go by. LOL Sometimes he tries to just sit in the middle of the street :eek: I've read that this could be a "working dog" trait, watching to make sure everything is ok around him. sheesh! Now that I have him not pulling our walks really do take forever.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Use the search engine here at Boxerworld and search terms such as "leash pulling" and you'll find tons of information on how to deal with this very common problem.

 

[Nicole510]

When he starts to pull turn abruptly and walk in the other direction away from the distraction. If you do the search that Dan recommended you'll probably find more info on this method as well.

 

[SC's Mom]

Nancyred-
Trust me--find a new trainer! I dealt with a trainer just like what you described and at first I thought this was the only way. Boy was I wrong! I fought Caesar tooth and nail on so many things then I got a new trainer (I did TONS of research first) this new trainer is AWESOME! He is kind, gentle and looks at things from C's point of view. He gave me some tips and in less than a week I had seen improvements on so many things. We're still not there yet, but we are closer than we've ever been.
My hubby and I went out and watched many trainers in action till we found one that we liked and felt we could all work with. Keep your chin up you'll find someone, it just takes time.

T